Divorce records are all of the official documents that were generated during the legal processing of a divorce. The same documents are created in divorces where the parties agree to the terms and jointly submit to the court draft papers, and in divorces where a trial before a judge is necessary because the parties disagree on one or more issues.
The divorce records include the judge’s statement of the facts, the judge’s conclusions of law (application of the law to the facts), the judge’s order that a judgment be entered, and the divorce decree itself. Together, these provide evidence that a marriage has been legally ended. These documents are filed with the county court clerk, as a permanent record.
When a person gets a divorce it affects many areas of their life. If they decide to remarry, proof that the first marriage was ended may be required. If they are in the U.S. on a green card or other visa, the immigration services will need to be contacted. If they changed their name there is a lot of work to be done:
- Copies of the divorce records will be necessary in order to change the name on a deed to a house or the title to a car;
- Social security records will need to be updated (including obtaining a new card);
- Their passport will need to be corrected;
- They will have to change the name on their driver’s license;
- Miscellaneous smaller issues, such as credit card records, will have to be updated.
The divorce records provide a lot of critical information.They prove whom the real estate and personal property (bank accounts, cars, household goods that have not been divided up yet, and the like) now belong to. The divorce records also detail which party is responsible for each of the debts the parties owe. If spousal support is ordered (“spousal support” is also known as “alimony”), the amount will be set forth, along with the governing details – when does spousal support end, for example.
The divorce decree also states how disputes between the parties over any provisions of the decree will be handled; typically, it will order that conflicts will be worked out via mediation. It may order one party to pay the other’s attorney’s fees, or provide that they will each pay their own. If the parties own a business together, the divorce decree will state what its value is and how it is to be divided up.
When there are children, the divorce records set forth the custody arrangements, including how much time each parent gets to spend with the children (“parenting time”) and when. The divorce decree also states who owes whom child support and how much it will be each month. This includes:
- Who will get the children on holidays and birthdays
- Who is responsible for providing health and dental insurance
- Who will pay the cost of child care
- Who has the right to make decisions concerning school and medical questions
- What will happen if one of the parties moves out of the state
- Who gets to claim the children as dependents on income tax filings.
An important but often overlooked addition to the divorce decree is an appendix that lays out what state law says in terms of:
- Payments to public agencies
- Depriving the other parent of custodial or parental timing rights
- Nonsupport of a child
- How to modify parenting time and/or child support
- Change of address
- Parenting time remedies and penalties, and more.
If the divorce was carried out as an “at fault” divorce, the divorce records will state what the offending party did that gave cause for the divorce. Examples include violence, infidelity, endangerment, neglect, gambling addiction, and substance abuse. This can be very helpful if there has been spousal abuse, as it is proof that a judge has found that abuse or domestic violence actually occurred. This will be extremely useful if one of the parties needs to obtain a protective order.
